Jan 21st, 2022: Living Out Our Faith as A TEAM


Football is on my agenda for every weekend in the next few weeks. Football is a game of intelligence, teamwork, discipline in execution, precise decision-making, careful preparation, and display of human strength. Some of my Vietnamese family members who don't understand the game think it is for BIG FAT men in tights hitting each other.


We can see a good football team before they enter the playing field. We can see whether a team is ready for the game or not but the spirit in their dressing room. We can feel their focus and readiness. How can we get ready before we enter the playing field of life? Who are our teammates? What kind of spirit do we have a community of faith?


A good football team doesn't believe in luck. It creates its own opportunities. Players believe in each other's ability and skills to make a play. They stick to the game plan and the playbook. They don't panic when they are behind. They believe in each other and the team as a whole. What skills and opportunities has God given us to make a difference in the world? Are we anxious when we face opposition, or are we trusted in the game plan that God has for us?


A good football team always respects the opposition but doesn't play with fear. Its players will study and analyze the other team before the game. Its coaches will design the best match-up plan for both sides of the ball. They take on the challenges without hesitation. The fans are the extra player of the team. The Holy Spirits are our head coach. He will instruct and correct us when we don't see the game clearly.


"For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." - Romans 12: 4-5

 

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